Ted Hughes And Sylvia Plath S Separation Ultimately Led To Her Demise
Submitted by emoneyballer on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
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Ted Hughes And Sylvia Plath S Separation Ultimately Led To Her Demise
In "A Pink Wool Knitted Dress," Ted Hughes writes a detailed account of his wedding day, not focusing on his happiness, but more on his apprehension to wed Sylvia Plath. On their day of matrimony, when they are to be eternally bound together, one would think that the couple would be overjoyed, but this is only half true, representing Plath's feelings, and not Hughes's. He was mortified of being wed to her, but was not aware of these feelings until after she passed away. While Hughes focuses on his feelings throughout the poem, he gives the audience Plath's feelings of their wedding and marriage as well. Through this kind of multiple characterization Hughes gives the reader a true account of their marriage, why it failed, and ultimately why it was the cause of her death.
When they met, Sylvia Plath could not have been better suited for him. She was half American, half German. Her mother, Aurelia was attending Boston University when she met Otto Plath, who was teaching German there. Her father held a doctorate from Harvard University in entomology. After they wed, Aurelia dropped out of school to focus on raising her daughter, Sylvia. When she was the age of eight years old, her father died of untreatable diabetes. This caused severe emotional trauma that Plath would never recover from. Despite this tragic situation Aurelia did a pretty good job; pushing Sylvia toward education. Then in 1955 Sylvia graduated from Smith College, and went on to Study at Cambridge as a Fulbright Scholar. This is where she met Ted Hughes.
Hughes was captivated by her beauty and talent. Not to mention that the intimacy of their relationship was astonishing. Hughes states, "You were a new world. My new world. / So this is America, I marveled. / Beautiful, beautiful America (Qtd. in Feinstein 57)! Little did he know that over time his perception of her would be changed, leading to an affair.
Hughes goes on to say that the only furnishings he had on his wedding...
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